NY minor league prospect news (2021 edition)

jon abbey

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People are more familiar now with the name Everson Pereira after he was briefly going to TEX. Then John King's medicals cancelled that part of the deal and Pereira was back before he'd left, evidently not an easy rollercoaster day for the 20 year old (duh) although he has gone right back to hitting, 2 HRs since then. He is crushing in low A Tampa since he got promoted, 1.112 OPS in 72 ABs. He should probably be promoted at least once more if he is going to make the 40 man, too many levels away now. He is now at or near the top of the list of guys Cashman will need to make a rule 5 decision on, I think.

https://www.milb.com/player/everson-pereira-677592?stats=career-r-hitting-all&year=2021
 

jon abbey

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NY traded I think 10 prospects last week, they continue to move guys up to replace people. Without those 10 guys, NY’s 4 minor league teams have still gone a combined 14-3 in the last four days.
 

jon abbey

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People are more familiar now with the name Everson Pereira after he was briefly going to TEX. Then John King's medicals cancelled that part of the deal and Pereira was back before he'd left, evidently not an easy rollercoaster day for the 20 year old (duh) although he has gone right back to hitting, 2 HRs since then. He is crushing in low A Tampa since he got promoted, 1.112 OPS in 72 ABs. He should probably be promoted at least once more if he is going to make the 40 man, too many levels away now. He is now at or near the top of the list of guys Cashman will need to make a rule 5 decision on, I think.

https://www.milb.com/player/everson-pereira-677592?stats=career-r-hitting-all&year=2021
Heh, Pereira promoted to high A Hudson Valley today, a bunch of other promotions too. Minor league teams this year play six games a week with every Monday off, so Monday tends to be the day for promotions.
 

jon abbey

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I have talked a bunch about NY's shortstop depth in the minors, and they moved some of that at the deadline. But I haven't seen anyone talk about their CF depth and after recent promotions, they now have a genuine CF prospect at each of the four levels. Two of them you know, the other two I will write a bit about.

AAA: Estevan Florial, 23 years old.

AA: Brandon Lockridge, 5th round pick in 2018, 24 years old. He has a .964 OPS in 74 ABs since being promoted to AA and is hitting leadoff ahead of Peraza (NY has been putting the prospects they like most in the top 2 or 3 slots in every minor league lineup this season). He is the least exciting of these four but that .964 OPS is sexy.

high A: Everson Pereira, 20 years old and promoted here yesterday. He crushed low A with a 1.112 OPS in 72 ABs and did not stay there long.

low A: Jasson Dominguez, 18 years old.

Florial is already on the 40 man, Lockridge and Pereira need to be added or they can be taken in the rule 5. I would guess Pereira is added and NY rolls the dice that no one takes Lockridge and hopefully he can develop for another season.
 

jon abbey

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Kiley McDaniel with a new top 50, Volpe all the way up to 26 and Peraza to 42.
 

jon abbey

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Makes me wonder if Torres is going to be out longer than previously thought.
The teams get a 27th man for that one game, and NY has almost no position players unused on the 40 man, just Florial (who has been in a terrible slump since going back to AAA and NY has lots of OFs) and Peraza.
 
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EvilEmpire

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I know is it grossly unrealistic, but I would be so happy if Peraza flashes enough talent to somehow steal that job. Awesome defense and mediocre offense would be plenty enough for me.
 

jon abbey

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Jasson Dominguez has struggled somewhat as a 18 year old in low A, but one level higher, 20 year old Everson Pereira is going nuts (yes he was born in April 2001 and wow we are all old), like what we expected from the Martian. Tonight Pereira has been a one man offense for Hudson Valley from the leadoff position, 4-4 with 2 HRs, 4 RBIs and 3 runs scored in a 6-1 game after 6. He is up to a 1.226 OPS now in high A after a 1.112 in low A, he has become I think an almost certain 40 man protect extremely quickly. Cashman had agreed to deal him to TEX for that reliever (John King?) but when they didn't like King's medicals, Pereira stayed and has really jumped up NY's list of potential impact guys, he should be hitting top 100 lists if he keeps this up much longer.

https://www.milb.com/player/everson-pereira-677592
 

jon abbey

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Volpe with yet another HR tonight, he is maybe the best performing NY position player prospect since Jeter (?). He is up to 298 ABs now between low and high A, 19 HRs, 26-32 SBs, a 1.066 OPS, and a ridiculous 86 runs scored in 79 games played. I think the last NY minor leaguer to score 100 runs in a season was actually Jeter in 1994. I wonder if he will get promoted a second time to Somerset AA before the season ends, he turned 20 April 28.

https://www.milb.com/player/anthony-volpe-683011
 

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Thanks for posting that. I know they aren't that close to the majors yet, but with Peraza and Volpe looming, maybe Gleyber gets another year at SS while Cashman patiently waits to see if either of them is ready to make the jump in 2023.
 

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Volpe with yet another HR tonight, he is maybe the best performing NY position player prospect since Jeter (?). He is up to 298 ABs now between low and high A, 19 HRs, 26-32 SBs, a 1.066 OPS, and a ridiculous 86 runs scored in 79 games played. I think the last NY minor leaguer to score 100 runs in a season was actually Jeter in 1994. I wonder if he will get promoted a second time to Somerset AA before the season ends, he turned 20 April 28.

https://www.milb.com/player/anthony-volpe-683011
Reuben Rivera!

I thought he was gonna be the next Mickey Mantle.
 

jon abbey

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Heh, poor Andrew Velazquez, fulfilling his lifelong dream (a big hit for the team he grew up rooting for in the Bronx) and he can't even get his name on the app.
 

jon abbey

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Also when I went to check what Peraza did tonight, I saw that Somerset was shut out on 4 hits, so figured it couldn’t be much, but he was 2-2 with two singles and two walks from the leadoff position.
 

jon abbey

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Good article on Anthony Volpe, who unsurprisingly trained like a maniac in 2020 and is seeing the results now:

"Volpe drove from his home in Watchung, N.J., to Lefkowitz’s facility Monday through Friday every week from August through February to refine his right-handed swing and make it more efficient and repeatable.

Lefkowitz estimated that Volpe took close to 10,000 swings wearing a K-Vest, a biomechanics device that tracks swing movements. They had plenty of time for trial and error, but the focus was on consistency and efficiency, not how hard the ball was coming off his bat.

Every day, Volpe would go from three-hour hitting sessions with Lefkowitz to two-hour training sessions with Mike Baker, his longtime strength coach."

https://nypost.com/2021/08/22/yankees-anthony-volpes-stock-rapidly-rising
 

jon abbey

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A handful of exciting promotions today:

View: https://twitter.com/elijfishman/status/1430012595973537793?s=20


Beck Way I talked about just above.

Randy Vasquez I talked about a couple weeks back also (post #156 above), he has kicked it to another level since the TEX trade falling through at the end of July, and is promoted again after just six starts in high A (36 33 8 7 8 53, a 1.75 ERA), he now looks like a lock to make the offseason 40 man.

Anthony Garcia is an exciting one, 6'5" and has obliterated the FCL so far, 8 HRs in just 66 ABs plus 10 SBs (1 CS), a 1.156 OPS. Very curious to see him in Tampa.

Also very nice to see Antonio Gomez hit full season ball, he is a 19 year old Venezuelan catcher. NY has a handful of catching prospects up and down the system but I believe Gomez is the most legit defender among them.
 

jon abbey

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It is depressing how long I have known the name of Roderick Arias since he turns just 17 next month. For all of that time he has been linked to the Yankees (he is literally always wearing a Yankee hat in his occasional Instagram videos) and finally in January they should be able to make it official. Now that we are just five months away from that, we should start to see more articles about him. Like Dominguez, he is a switch hitter.

===========================

Scouting grades: Hit: 60 | Power: 55 | Run: 55 | Arm: 55 | Field: 55 | Overall: 55

The top international prospect in the class, Arias is an extraordinary talent and the consensus No. 1.

There’s a lot to like about the teenager. Starting on the defensive side of the ball, Arias has plus arm potential. His throws are accurate and effortless, and he’s always in a position to make the throws. His arm is strong from any angle. He also shows good footwork with soft hands and above-average range.

At the plate, he exhibits above-average bat-to-ball skills and strike zone awareness. He shows good plate discipline and doesn’t swing and miss often. He shows power from both sides of the plate, especially by the right side. There’s good opposite-field power from the left side, and the overall package that could develop into a plus-plus hitter.

On the bases, Arias can score easily from first base and second base showing very good anticipation and awareness. He consistently runs the timed 60-yard run in 6.5 seconds, which is above average.

The teen trains in the Dominican Republic with Daniel Paulino and Luis Schecker, members of MLB’s Trainer Partnership Program. The Yankees are the favorite to sign him.

===========================

https://www.mlb.com/news/top-international-prospects-rankings-2021?t=mlb-pipeline-coverage
 

jon abbey

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So NY traded Hoy Park and Josh Smith and is arguably even stronger at SS up and down going into next season, this is where these guys are now so maybe all up one level to start next season.

AA: Peraza
high A: Volpe
low A: Sweeney
FCL: Vargas
on his way: Arias

Fangraphs has Peraza, Vargas and Volpe all in their top 100 (oddly, in that order). Sweeney is NY's 1st round pick from this summer (#20 overall), he is settling in very nicely in low A already with an .886 OPS, and Arias you can read about above, he may jump into top 100s immediately.

Also I think all 5 of those guys are 21 or younger.
 

jon abbey

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Fine, I checked.

AA: Peraza, 6/15/2000
high A: Volpe, 4/28/2001
low A: Sweeney, 4/24/2000
FCL: Vargas, 10/29/2001
on his way: Arias, 09/09/2004
 

jon abbey

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Anthony Garcia is an exciting one, 6'5" and has obliterated the FCL so far, 8 HRs in just 66 ABs plus 10 SBs (1 CS), a 1.156 OPS. Very curious to see him in Tampa.
3 HRs in 21 ABs so far and a 1.262 OPS, one report had his HR today over 500 feet, onto the next field over (link below). I wouldn’t believe that either but this is what Fangraphs said about him in February:

“It’s Garcia, not Dominguez, who is the most impressive and imposing physical presence of all the young Yankees hitters. A 6-foot-6, switch-hitting leviathan, if Garcia doesn’t have 80 raw power now, he will in the next few years.”

View: https://twitter.com/jbrophybaseball/status/1433560939253551115?s=21
 

jon abbey

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Three more HRs for Pereira today in high A, now he has 9 in just 66 ABs there and a 1.120 OPS. He is now decidedly outhitting Volpe (.963 OPS) at the same level, both born in April 2001.
 

jon abbey

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Hayden Wesneski is climbing the ranks of NY's pitching prospects, a 2019 draft pick who is not rule 5 eligible until after 2022 and their #15 prospect currently on mlb.com. Yesterday he had what is almost certainly the highest game score for any NY minor leaguer this year, a complete game (7 innings) 7 1 1 1 0 14 on just 75 pitches. He was great in high A to start the season, got promoted, struggled in AA for a bit but now has settled in and has an ERA just over 2 in his last 7 starts there.

View: https://twitter.com/DBITLefty/status/1437041374491205634


https://www.milb.com/player/hayden-wesneski-669713?stats=gamelogs-r-pitching-mlb&year=2021
 

jon abbey

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NY has 7 guys on the 60 day IL currently but the only one who might come back is Severino, which presumably means everyone but Sal Romano who is on the 40 man currently is safe through the end of the regular season at least, which means my man Chris Gittens has survived for now. He homered for the 13th time for Scranton tonight, in just 129 ABs (162 PAs, no one wants to pitch to him), an 1.133 OPS.

View: https://twitter.com/swbrailriders/status/1438698643259858957?s=21
 

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Jon, your attention to the minor leagues reminds me of when I was a kid. The Sporting News was so valuable in the 1950s and 1960s because it printed stats from every minor league, from AAA down to Class D ball. And not just Top 10. I think the cutoff was around halfway through the qualified players. You could pretty much follow all the key prospects. My dad always subscribed and when I went to Nam, he got the Sporting News subscription changed to my new address. Some guys got Playboy or porn. I got the Sporting News.
 

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jon abbey

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Ha, nice!

Yeah, I get excited for prospects with potential, I think it's been a while since NY had position player prospects like Peraza and Volpe and Dominguez and Pereira and Arias (coming in January).

Pereira I don't get why he is not getting more respect yet, he was born the same month/year as Volpe, they hit back to back in the same order in Hudson Valley, and Pereira had better numbers (and also plays a high defensive spectrum position in CF).
 

terrynever

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Ha, nice!

Yeah, I get excited for prospects with potential, I think it's been a while since NY had position player prospects like Peraza and Volpe and Dominguez and Pereira and Arias (coming in January).

Pereira I don't get why he is not getting more respect yet, he was born the same month/year as Volpe, they hit back to back in the same order in Hudson Valley, and Pereira had better numbers (and also plays a high defensive spectrum position in CF).
The only attention that matters comes from within the organization. Just like recruiting in hoops and football has expanded by ten times in scope thanks to the Internet, public knowledge of baseball prospects begins way too early. But it’s here now, which puts pressure on player development departments.

Jon, how do you feel the Yankees are doing in prospect development over the last five years? Certainly the farm system has given Cashman assets to trade for and away. But who have the Yankees developed into big league contributors? Are they better with pitchers or position players?

As fans, we all want the next wave of prospects to become big league players in pinstripes. But it never seems to happen. Cashman plugs holes in late July, trading prospects for veterans. I want to see a major league team in 2024 that features Dominguez, Volpe, Peraza and Pereira. And others. Let’s go young and fast.
 

jon abbey

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Jon, how do you feel the Yankees are doing in prospect development over the last five years? Certainly the farm system has given Cashman assets to trade for and away. But who have the Yankees developed into big league contributors? Are they better with pitchers or position players?
This is a huge question and I'm a bit busy today but I'll take a quick stab at it.

Evaluating an organization like you're asking is a moving target for lots of reasons. First of all, it takes guys a while to percolate up to the top, especially the international players. For instance, Oswald Peraza was signed in summer 2016, and he is still just 21. Secondly, Cashman totally revamped the internal coaching system I think in 2019 and early 2020, Matt Blake etc., and then Covid came and guys all lost a year of development. This is absolutely not a complaint but the timing of Covid possibly affected NY more than any other team, they were right in their contention window plus they had a ton of young potential stud pitchers who lost a year of development and evaluation. Are Gil and Medina in the rotation right now if Covid didn't happen? Who knows, but possible.

Anyway, my basic answer is that they are great at developing guys in the minors (I can't find it now, but Kiley McDaniel said somewhere in the last week or so that CLE and NYY are the two best teams at developing pitchers currently) but they are very bad at then giving them chances to really blossom in the majors. Chris Gittens is a great example that I have mentioned a lot, AA MVP in 2019, awesome in spring training this year, but did not get the 40 man spot he had earned and they tried Jay Bruce and Mike Ford before finally giving him a tiny chance in the bigs. He didn't do well, but they only gave him 44 sporadic PAs. He is already 27 years old.

I think Cashman has a lot of strengths but his big issue/blind spot right now is that he stockpiles veteran depth and then gives those guys chances over his prospects a lot of the time. I get that it's a very tricky balance, not having enough depth means we end up with situations like whoever that terrible RF replacement they used for Judge a couple years ago was (I have blotted out his name from my brain), but Cashman needs to figure it out better in the future. New MLB rules like no trading in August and only 28 guys on the roster in September also feed into this, it also makes it harder to team build when the rules keep changing, even midseason sometimes the last few years.
 

jon abbey

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Jim Callis on my man Everson Pereira today:

How close is Yankees outfielder Everson Pereira to being considered a Top 100 Prospect? He has the pedigree as a former top international signing with loud tools and had a breakout year in 2021 that culminated in him hitting 14 homers in 27 games as a 20-year-old in High-A.
-- Matthew S., Miami


Pereira definitely has that kind of upside, as he's a gifted hitter with developing power and patience, solid speed and arm strength and fine instincts in center field. Signed for $1.5 million out of Venezuela in 2017, he scuffled with aggressive assignments in his first two full pro seasons but started to take off this year at age 20.

Pereira's tools and track record aren't quite big enough for the Top 100 at this point, as he has played just 108 pro games and only 46 in full-season ball. But if he proves that his power is as real as it looked when he went deep 14 times in his final 23 contests this year, he'll force his way onto the list in the near future.

https://www.mlb.com/news/best-arizona-fall-league-prospects-pipeline-inbox
 

jon abbey

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The June 2020 draft was only 5 rounds, so there were some prime UDFAs, and one NY snagged was OF Elijah Dunham, #186 overall on BA’s pre-draft list. No minor league season in 2020, he played mostly in high A this year and made it to #24 on the current mlb.com NY prospect list, 13 HRs and 28 SBs in 339 ABs while playing good D in all three OF positions. Yesterday he hit two HRs in a game in Arizona, the first was off much missed stud former Yankee prospect Roansy Contreras.

https://www.milb.com/news/elijah-dunham-shows-twice-as-much-power
 

jon abbey

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Last week of the Arizona league and just back from their All-Star game (he hit 7th and played LF, 0-3 with a great diving catch), Dunham is still crushing.

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Yankees: Elijah Dunham, OF (No. 24), Surprise Saguaros

Dunham continued to show off his tools as he smacked his third triple and sixth double of the campaign in a 2-for-4 performance. The lefty slugger's name is all over the Fall League leaderboard -- he ranks first in steals (10), fourth among qualified players in OPS (1.075) and stands tied for fourth in average (.356) and hits (26). Of those hits, 11 have gone for extra bases, and the 23-year-old has more RBIs (11) and walks (13) than strikeouts (eight), tied for the fewest whiffs in the AFL.